Monday 14 March 2011 06.07 EDT
First published on Monday 14 March 2011 06.07 EDT

The Labour leader Ed Miliband has edged towards supporting military action in Libya, telling journalists the west can't stand by.

Miliband said he supported the idea of a no-fly zone but called for more details from the government on what type of troop detail would be involved. He said: "I don't think we can stand by as Colonel Gaddafi takes greater hold of Libya."

David Cameron's official spokesman said the focus of Britain's discussions with international partners continued to be measures to isolate the Gaddafi regime and the possibility of a no-fly zone.

The Arab League's backing for a no-fly zone over the weekend "shows that Gaddafi and Gaddafi's actions don't have any support in the region," said the spokesman.

But he said the option of directly supplying the rebels with arms, such as ground-to-air missiles, "isn't something we are actively pursuing".

Regular meetings of the government's Cobra emergency committee and the National Security Council are continuing, he added.

Earlier foreign secretary William Hague said the international community is approaching the "point of decision" on military intervention in Libya to protect the population from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's warplanes,

After the Arab League backed calls for a military no-fly zone, he said the international community must now consider the rebels' request for help.

Hague, who is scheduled to meet fellow G8 foreign ministers in Paris on Monday night, also indicated that the government could consider arming the rebels to help them combat the superior firepower of Gaddafi's security forces.

"We are now reaching a point of decision, very clearly, on what happens next," Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Clearly a no-fly zone is one of the leading propositions. It isn't the answer to everything but it has been called for by the Arab League and is something which the international community must now consider."

He indicated that while the "cleanest and simplest" way of securing a legal basis for a no-fly zone would be a resolution of the United Nations security council, it was not necessarily essential.

"In cases of great, overwhelming humanitarian need, then nations are able to act under international law, even without a resolution of the security council," he said.

Hague also expressed sympathy for a call by the former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind for an "open and urgent" supply of weapons to the rebels, to avoid repeating the "mistake" of the Bosnian war in the 1990s.

Writing in the Times, Rifkind said: "Having been defence secretary at the time I have, in retrospect, felt that (the arms embargo) was the most serious mistake made by the UN."

Hague said all arms exports to Libya – including to the rebels – were subject to a UN embargo, although he suggested that this could change.

"I wouldn't exclude various possibilities on this score," he said.

"I think Malcolm Rifkind makes a very good case. Again, this is the kind of subject which has to be discussed with our international partners."

He said that if Gaddafi was able to push back the rebels and re-establish control, the future for the country would be bleak.

"If Gaddafi went on to be able to dominate much of the country, this would be a long nightmare for the Libyan people and this would be a pariah state for some time to come," he said.